


Space Ranger

by Toshua



Category: The Sentinel
Genre: Alternate Universe, Inspired by Music, M/M, Space Station
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-25
Updated: 2013-02-25
Packaged: 2017-12-03 15:15:41
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 11,506
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/699624
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Toshua/pseuds/Toshua
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>An alternate universe where Jim is a Ranger on the International Space Station.  He meets a professor coming to the space station to test out a theory.  While his senses don't make much of an appearance, they are alluded to.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Space Ranger

**Author's Note:**

> Originally published in Past, Present, and Future Sense in 2002. Thank you Nightowl for publishing the zine

The International Space Station was a huge success for the human race as it entered the 21st century. It orbited the equator, visible as a large star to the human eye. The station collected unshielded sunlight and beamed the energy to the planet below, finally freeing the human race from their dependence on polluting sources of energy. 

The planet flourished under the station's benevolent eye. With the availability of cheap power, the poorer countries finally stopped their squabbles for increasingly limited resources. 

But it didn't take long before corporate greed overpowered the humanitarian purposes behind the station's conception. The first attacks on the station came from the business interests intent on destroying the station's worth. 

Companies whose self worth were tied into making the nations dependent on them complained long and hard to the political leadership for concessions for their operations, or restrictions on the availability of cheap power. But the common citizen's voice was louder for once, and the companies were denied their petitions. The second attack came from the political foes, intent on destroying the leadership. The leadership of the station refused to take sides in political scrabbles. The refusal to support parties or favored governments took their toll on the moral of the station personnel, but they held firm until the spotlight changed directions. 

The third attack was the most devastating. Cargo brought on board the station contained some type of insect that infested the station. While the insect itself was not deadly, what it accomplished was. It left egg sacks webbed into circuits, inside electronics and wiring. The contaminates arched electrical currents, frying miles of electrical lines and blacking out the station. 

On the planet below, nations that depended on the cheap power provided by the space station were devastated. Riots spread across the world as darkness engulfed the cities. The number of panic-generated deaths climbed as the hours of power loss continued. Thirty-six hours after the planet-wide power grid collapsed, backup systems for the major cities were on-line. The people of the world were left with the task of trying to rediscover how to live in small communities without world-wide support. 

The brain trust responsible for the space station decided that the only solution to the problem was to evacuate the station and open it to vacuum of space. The vacuum and cold would kill the infestation, suck all the insects out of the station and leave it bug free. The egg sacks would freeze and all future generations would be killed. Then the station could be repaired and re-manned. 

It took six months to bring the space station back on-line. The cost was staggering, but the cost of not having it was higher, as the nations' governments had discovered. The leadership of the U.N. all agreed; besides the repair teams, the first occupants of the space station would be an elite squad of Army Rangers. 

^^^^^^^^^^  
Captain James Joseph Ellison pulled off his headset, along with the lightweight vest that contained a variety of sensor equipment and tossed them toward his bunk. He watched as the minimal gravity slowed the fall of his gear. He never lost the feeling of awe of the environment he currently lived in. It took several minutes before the items settled on the blanket. The station was slowly spinning now and all mechanical and electrical functions were fully operational. Ellison stretched his back and arms, forcing the joints to pop and crack. Two weeks of living in the minimal gravity of the station was beginning to affect his muscle tone. 

Ellison took the marker hanging on a string and marked off the day on the calendar with a big red 'x'. Two more weeks before the shuttle would take him back to Earth. He was on his third trip to the station. One month up, one month down, for six months. Then he would be assigned to the base of his choice for two years, or he could walk away from the military life. He looked at the calendar with the equal number of 'xed' squares and non-marked squares. Fifteen days to make a decision. Where did he want to go? What did he want to do? He had citations from every commander he'd ever worked under. A handful of people, all Rangers like himself and all having been on the station at one time or another only surpassed his training in emergency situations during its reconstruction. 

A mesh bag hanging beside his modular desk contained offer after offer for him in search and rescue organizations, and schools wanting him to teach emergency procedures. There was even an offer from NASA to teach space station disaster procedures. He pushed a button on his communication console, extinguishing the flashing light. The flat screen lit up and his father's face appeared. 

"Hi, Jimmy. How are you doing, son? Just wanted to tell you that I'm throwing you a welcome home party at the end of your last stint on the station. I wanted you to meet some people who have some good offers for you and there are a couple of ladies dying to meet you. Call me with the date you land in Florida and I'll be sure to be there. Or Steven will. See you in two weeks." The screen went blank. 

Jim groaned. He did not want to talk to his father and he especially didn't want to attend a party thrown by his dad. He peeled out of his uniform and pulled on a pair of sweats. The tiny gym would give him a workout and time to think. 

As Ellison half walked, half swam to the module that held the gym, dining area and community room, he reflected on the months he'd spent in the various portions of the rebuilt station. 

His first month had been a blur of sixteen-hour days as he inspected every shipment of equipment and supplies delivered to the repair crews. He wasn't alone. He commanded a squad of three Rangers, each one a specialist in sabotage and terrorist tactics. Together, they opened every box, checked every component, and unpacked every tool that entered the airlock. His team had been there when the microwave power converters came back on-line and Earth had lit up. The world power grid was back on-line and the repair crew all heaved a sigh of relief. 

On his second rotation to the station he found two of the modules ready for his squad to move into, giving his men a little more privacy than they had the first time. Instead of sixteen-hour days, they got away with twelve hour shifts. In their off hours, they had built a gym with isometric exercise equipment. It wasn't much, but it was better than nothing. 

Now on his third and final rotation, he found the station ready for the thirty scientists that would be ferried up by the shuttle over the next year. The various disciplines chosen for the precious space station berths had won their spots over thousands of projects proposed in a worldwide competition. One group of scientists was bringing seeds and plants of all types to grow and develop hybrid crops. The arboretum was running and a layer of green covered the trays. The grow lamps made the module warm and the growing things made the air smell good. Someone started an African violet and it was blooming under its' own light, the tiny pink blossoms a source of enjoyment. Another group was bringing ore samples to work on minimal gravity smelting techniques. If mankind's explorations expanded past the moon, ore mined from asteroids would be vital for constructing outposts. A third group would specialize in low gravity medicine. 

The captain entered the tiny gym and found two of his men there before him. Henri Brown and Brian Rafe were stretching out on a mat, working against each other. It was hard to find exercises that taxed the muscles in the minimal gravity provided by the spin from the station. 

"Hey, Jim. Grab a bag." Rafe called. "Henri needs something to beat on." 

Jim unhooked the bag where it was secured horizontally on the ceiling among all the heating and water pipes. "Why do you need to beat on something?" 

Henri pulled on gloves. He threw a punch at the bag, his feet braced against chocks so he could get some leverage. "My wife just sent me an e-mail." He hit the bag. "She won't be there when I get back." He threw another punch. "She's found someone who wants to keep his feet on terra-firma. She'll mail me the divorce papers." He threw a combination. 

"Bad luck, man. Anything I can do?" Ellison leaned into the bag, adjusting his balance to hold the bag for Henri's flurry of punches. 

"Find the son of a bitch and hold him so I can deck him." Each word was punctuated with a jab. 

Rafe was working on a resistance procedure with his feet strapped down while he did lifts with a huge elastic band attached to the wall."You know his name?" 

Henri shook his head. He finally laid his head on the bag, breathing hard. Then he straightened as he pulled off his gloves and gave them to Ellison. "Your turn." Henri braced his body against the bag. 

Ellison laced up the gloves. "Tell you what, come home with me when we get back. My dad wants to introduce me to some ladies. You can keep them off me." 

Rafe chuckled. "I can see your father's reaction to that." 

Jim grunted as he pummeled on the bag. "Anybody know who's fixing our meals tonight?" 

"I heard Tony say he wanted to try his hand at cooking." Henri leaned on the bag. 

Tony was the station's plumber and heating specialist. 

"What's so hard about cooking? Choose freeze dried entree, add a freeze dried something else." Rafe unstrapped himself from the foot restraints. "Thirty seconds later, it's dinner." 

The comment caused a chuckle all around. 

The third person of the squad stuck his head in the oval portal. Joel Taggart was older than Jim by several years and the fringe of hair around his skull was heavily laced with gray. His captain's bars were tarnished on the stiffly pressed shirt, but his shoulders were straight and his back was unbent. 

"Captain Ellison, we just got the flight schedule for the next three shuttles. You're not going to believe what is coming up on the next shuttle." 

Ellison had taken his place in the foot restraints and was working the resistance equipment. He glanced at Taggart and shook his head. 

"They're sending up a dance troupe!" 

The three men stopped their various exercises and looked at the older man. 

Joel nodded. "With music and everything!" 

Ellison growled. "Whose bright idea was that?" 

Taggart shook his head. "Some college won a contest for use of a near zero gravity facility. The prize was a week long stay on the station to do the experiment they used to win the trip. Their project is a study of human flexibility in nil gravity to determine if the human brain would have developed differently." Joel sounded like he was reading from a press release. 

Rafe shook his head. "Sounds like a bunch of scientific double-talk to me." 

"Have quarters been set up for them?" Brown wiped his face, then dropped his towel over Rafe's head, much to the other man's disgust. 

"Yeah, the Commander said put them in the science wing. There's plenty of room over there until the scientists come on board. Shouldn't be a problem. The problem is where they are going to perform. They need a large empty area with movable lighting and multiple power outlets and computer connections. 

Ellison finished his workout and reached for his towel. "What did you do, Joel, download their winning proposal?" 

"Nah. Called the university, and talked to the head of the project. Says he's the director of the anthropology research labs at Rainier University. I think his name was Sandbag, Sandman, Sandburg, something like that." Joel bounced slowly to a convenient chair and settled down. "If I understand him right, he's trying to show that if man hadn't had the level of gravity that Earth has, our brains would have developed in a completely different way. Something about right brain versus left brain." Joel rubbed his hand over his bald dome. "I think that's what he said." The captain shook his head. "He was talking so fast, the video feed couldn't keep up with him." 

"How many are coming up?" 

"Six people. They're bringing their own electronics. This doctor thinks we don't have a sound system complex enough to do whatever they're doing." 

"Whatever." Ellison sounded disgusted. "They'll probably bring up a bunch of that new stuff they call music these days. Give me Santana any day." He dropped his sweaty towel into the laundry bin. "Anybody ready to try Tony's cooking? 

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ 

The shuttle Columbia smoothly docked against the space station and the pressure ring sealed the station to its visitor. Commander Simon Banks watched from the bridge of the space station as the shuttle locked into place and shut down. The crew on the shuttle went through its shut down procedures, and the commander listened with one ear, while the other ear listened to the Rangers as they opened the airlock door and greeted the crew. There was the usual good-hearted banter back and forth. The space station had been in orbit long enough to establish a regular rotation for shuttle crews. The Rangers knew the entire contingent of shuttle crews and welcomed the new faces happily. A shuttle arrival meant somebody got to rotate home. 

Captain Ellison's voice came over the headphone. "We've got quarters set up for your guests. Please tell them that all those boxes will have to inspected before they come on board." There was a rumble of voices before Ellison's voice was clear again. "The electronics won't be hurt in the cargo bay by the cold temperatures, but we'll have to unload them before we orbit to the sun side." The receiver went silent. 

Commander Banks slowly made his way to the airlock, and paused, watching the shuttle crew as they floated/swam into the station, followed by a group of young people, awkwardly trying to move in the almost non-existent gravity. They were wearing the shuttle jumpsuits and green faces as stomachs unaccustomed to near-zero gravity revolted. Banks laughed as he heard Ellison's command. 

"Any of you green faces puke on my station, you'll clean it up. And there ain't nothing fun about cleaning up somebody's puke." 

The last body that swam through the portal wasn't green faced. His eyes darted around him, taking in the metal corridor he was entering. With a graceful maneuver worthy of a ballet dancer, he twisted his body into a turn and drifted to a pipe for a handhold. Once hanging from the pipe, he looked at the other five young people and grinned at all the green-tinged faces. 

"What's wrong? I told every one of you that you'd be spacesick if you thought about your stomachs. So what did you do; you thought about your stomachs. Man, we only have two weeks and I don't have time to babysit you until you get your spacelegs." 

The body attached to the confident voice kicked loose from the pipe and headed for Commander Banks. He floated to within a couple of inches of the station commander then stopped his motion with a sweep of his arm and dropped to the floor, where the tiny magnets on his boots clicked to the metal. 

"Commander Banks, I'm Dr. Blair Sandburg of Rainier University and the rest of this motley group are my team. I'm sure you were briefed on my team, why we're here and what we hope to accomplish. So I won't take up any of your time. Just point me to who is in charge of accommodations and we'll get started moving our gear." 

Simon looked at the young man he dwarfed by more than a foot. Dr. Sandburg was smaller than most of the crew, but radiated absolute confidence in himself in this new environment. He had long brown curls tied back in a ponytail and bright blue eyes. His body was compact, but with a broad chest and big hands. 

"Captain Ellison will assign you quarters and show you where to put your gear. I'm sure he can answer any questions you and your group have." The young man nodded and shuffled/drifted away, coming to a stop in front of Ellison. Again, he was towered over by the Ranger. Simon Banks chuckled at the contrast in people and went back to his tiny office. There was a whole day of unloading the shuttle to coordinate, equipment lists to check and experiments to talk about. With the shuttle docked, tonight they would have fresh vegetables for a change. Maybe the crew had figured out a way to bring up tomatoes without them crushing under the g-forces of lift-off. 

^^^^^^^^ 

Captain Ellison looked up from his checklist when the slender figure in navy blue touched down next to him. He saw someone grinning from ear to ear, and barely able to stay still as he tried to hold onto a strap mounted in the wall. The bright blue eyes met his and became brighter, if that was possible. 

"Blair Sandburg, Captain Ellison. I'm supposed to see you about arranging everything my team needs." 

Jim froze in the middle of accepting the offered hand. The hand was warm, but solid, with a callused palm and a firm grip. The man attached to the hand was not what he expected and he swallowed hard before he could speak. 

"Captain James Ellison." His voice sounded shaky, even to himself. "As soon as I'm done here -" 

"If you'll show me what you need, we'll help. It'll take their minds off their space sickness." 

Jim was still staring. He wanted to rub his eyes. An angel in navy blue stood in front of him, rocking gently on his toes. The curls were thick, gleaming auburn and chestnut in the artificial lights. The full lips demanded to be kissed, stroked, nibbled. The firm hand he still held sent electric shocks up his arm and into his chest. Jim fell into the dark blue twinkling eyes and drowned. It was love at first sight. 

"Captain Ellison? Are you all right?" The voice wasn't deep enough to be a baritone, but it was deep enough to send flutters though Jim. 

Jim blinked, pulling himself back from the sapphire eyes. "Yeah, your help would come in handy. There is a lot of gear and, from the manifest, most of it looks pretty technical." He cleared his throat and forced himself to look down at the electronic clipboard. 

Blair bounced away and called to his team, ushering them from the various places they were perched or leaning against. They set to work. 

^^^^^^^^^^ 

It was another two days before Ellison ran into the young doctor again. By that time, the story of the group kept getting crazier and crazier. Rafe and Brown both reported that they weren't really a dance troupe, more like a group using dance and music to prove a theory. They also reported that Sandburg was a slave driver, demanding every member put in at least sixteen hour days for the duration of their stay. 

Ellison felt the bass of the music more than he heard it. The equipment they were using seemed to resonate in every metal girder anywhere near where they were working. Midway through the second day of their stay, Jim had a headache from the pounding under his feet that vibrated his body with every step he took. Nobody else seemed to notice how deep the bass instruments were, or how loud some of the music was when it filtered out of the lab the group had appropriated. Jim approached the lab cautiously. He didn't want to interrupt a critical experiment, but he did need the noise to subside to a level he could tolerate. Underneath that though, he really wanted to talk to Sandburg. 

The brief moments they had spent unloading the shuttle, inspecting the equipment and ferrying it to the lab, had only made Jim more attuned to the younger man. Jim had managed to sit beside him at dinner that night, but he could only sit and watch as the man talked about his work and what they hoped to accomplish. The doctor's hands had flown about him, often using a knife or fork to make a point, sending napkins and knives flying in the meager gravity. 

The rest of the team seemed to be as enthusiastic as Sandburg over their plans. Ellison learned that the group was really teacher and students and that Sandburg wasn't a physicist or a engineer, but an anthropologist. Which made his trip to the station even more remarkable. 

Jim stepped into the lab, both hands over his ears as soon as he'd opened the airlock door. The whole room seemed to shimmy as music bounced off the metal walls and floors. Three of Sandburg's students were in the air, electrodes attached to bare chests and nestled in flying hair or attached to their temples. 

They were performing complex routines that were more gymnastic then dancing. Sandburg and the remainder were huddled around computer screens, pointing at readings and making notes or talking over tiny microphones at their lips. The music seemed to be a counterpoint to the movements of the people in the air. 

Ellison didn't recognize the piece blaring over speakers, but the beat seemed critical as each student moved in rhythm or counter rhythm to the bass pulse. 

Sandburg looked up as a shadow fell over his keyboard. He pushed his glasses up on his nose. A smile covered the face which had been seriously frowning a second ago. 

"Captain Ellison, what brings you down here?" He stood up and offered his hand to shake. 

Ellison shook his head, hands still over his ears. Sandburg saw the pain in the ice blue eyes and immediately killed the music. He waved at the three in the air and pointed to the floor. They immediately kicked against the ceiling and floated down, magnetic boots clicking on the steel floor as they landed. 

"Everyone, take a break. Have some lunch. Be back here in an hour." The students heaved sighs of relief all around and grabbed towels. They all swam from the lab, leaving the Ranger and teacher in peace. 

Jim's eyes were on the young teacher. Sandburg was in a one piece lycra/spandex suit, in dark purple that changed to dark blue as it climbed up his torso. The material caressed each long muscle in the teacher's legs, tucked in between the cheeks of his ass and outlined each rib. Jim swallowed at the sight, his armpits suddenly damp. Sandburg's hair was pulled back in a ponytail and a towel was draped around his neck. Jim could smell the sweat that dampened the towel under the ponytail. The man was gorgeous. 

"I didn't realize the music carried out of the lab. Sorry." Sandburg grinned, eyes twinkling at the man who loomed over him. 

Jim put his hands down. "I don't think anyone noticed it but me. I have real sensitive hearing when I have a headache. And right now," Jim rubbed his neck and rolled his head, "I have a bad one." 

Sandburg didn't hesitate. He came around from the computer console and immediately reached up and started stoking the corded muscles in the military man's throat. "Man, you are tight as a bowstring. Don't you ever relax?" 

Jim raised his chin as the warm stroking fingers worked their magic. The warmth spread from his throat to his shoulders and down his arms. The body in front of him shifted until it was behind him and kept stroking his neck, digging deep into the knots. Jim dropped his head to his chest and closed his eyes, sinking into the warmth of fingers on his skin. 

"Why don't you sit down, Captain Ellison, before you fall down." The voice almost purred in his ear and a hand on his elbow urged him to a stool. 

"Please, it's Jim." Ellison kept his eyes closed. "Where'd you learn to do this? And how did you know I wouldn't be offended if you touched me?" 

A chuckle rumbled from Sandburg's chest. "Oh, here and there. Why would you be offended at my touch? You're in pain. I can help. What's offensive about that?" 

Jim was silent as the headache began to ease. He didn't protest when Sandburg pulled him back to lean against the compact chest and warm fingers started rubbing his temples. 

"My friends call me Blair." The teacher whispered. The fingers kept rubbing gentle circles. "How's the head?" 

Jim nodded and made no move to sit back up. "Better. Thank you, Blair." The Ranger whispered as his eyes opened and focused on the dark blue eyes looking down at him. 

Blair's fingers left his temples and moved into the buzz cut hair. He kept massaging through the bristly hair. "I think you like this." There was a grin in Sandburg's voice. "When was the last time someone touched you?" the younger man whispered. 

"Long time." Jim whispered back. The two pair of blue eyes remained focused on each other. 

"Hmmm." Blair pushed the man upright on the stool, and came around and knelt in front of him. "I wouldn't mind remedying that, if you're interested." One hand rested on Jim's fatigue covered knee. "I hear making love in zero gravity is a real kick." He blushed a little at the statement, but the hand remained where it was and the blue eyes never left Jim's. 

"I wouldn't know." Jim dropped his hand over Blair's and the fingers automatically twined together. 

The eyebrows partially hidden by the round glasses bounced. "Want to find out?" 

Jim took a deep breath, then another. The man kneeling before him smelled sweet, even over the musky tang of the sweat in the towel around Blair's neck. Jim closed his eyes and tried to identify the scent. Tangerine maybe? With some sort of fir or cedar thrown in? He jerked his eyes open when his knee was shaken and looked down into worried blue eyes. Jim groaned to himself. 

"Sorry." 

"Where did you go?" Blair stood up and pulled Jim up with him. 

"I was trying to determine your cologne or after-shave." Jim waved his hand around, taking in the lab. "The air in the station smells really stale or overly sterile sometimes. But you smell -" Jim blushed "-sweet and fresh. I kinda got lost in the scent." The big shoulders shrugged. "Sorry." 

Blair smiled and his eyes twinkled. "Should I be flattered? I've never had anyone mesmerized by the way I smell before." 

Jim felt his face turn hot. He swallowed hard and reached out with his free hand. His fingers brushed across Sandburg's cheek. "How do you have the courage to offer yourself to a stranger? I could have hurt you at the implication that I was gay. Most men are really threatened by another man propositioning them." 

"How can you have the courage to accept? I just might want to add you to the notches on my bed post. Or use a brief fling against you for some nefarious reason." Blair whispered, then turned his head and kissed the fingers that were brushing his cheek. 

Jim froze as the dampness touched his fingers. The soft touch was like an electric shock to his hand. His other hand was still wrapped in warm skin that squeezed and released his. 

Blair licked the fingertips. Jim watched the pink tongue as it licked each tip. 

The younger man watched the captain's eyes as his tongue licked and caressed each callused fingertip. Jim's eyes followed the movements, breathing shallowly. 

"I'm gonna kiss you, Captain Ellison." The teacher warned as he pulled his lips from the wet fingertips. "I want to see if my kiss can mesmerize you as much as my smell." 

Jim waited as his vision filled with the face of the teacher. His eyes drifted shut when he couldn't see anything more than the sapphire blue. 

The first touch of the thick velvet lips almost overpowered Jim's self-control. His hands came up without any conscious effort and pulled the braided rubber band from the ponytail and freed the curls to float free. He sank his fingers into the chestnut strands and held on, heart-rate and breathing spiraling out of control as he responded to the gentle invader that plundered his mouth. 

Blair touched one foot hard on the metal floor and broke loose the magnets holding their boots. They floated up. Without any effort, the teacher controlled their ascent until they almost hovered in mid-air. He wrapped one spandex covered leg around Jim's thigh and anchored the two of them together. 

Jim realized that he wasn't standing firmly on the floor and pulled away from the lush lips that seemed to drink from his soul. He looked at Blair's closed eyes then down at the space between the floor and his feet. When he looked up again, Blair's eyes were open and he was smiling with kiss swollen lips. 

"Guess you swept me off my feet," the teacher said. 

"I think it was the other way around." Jim swept an arm through the air and they moved slowly to a wall and bumped against it. "Why are you so comfortable like this?" Ellison pointed to their feet and the distance to the floor. "It's not quite zero gravity, but it's close enough you have to be careful how you move around. Most people take weeks to adjust. 

"Long story." At Ellison's raised eyebrow, Sandburg sighed. "I was injured when I was a kid. My spinal cord was badly damaged. I spent a year learning how to walk again. But before I learned to walk, I learned to swim. So most of my therapy started in a pool and ended up on land. There was a time when I thought I'd trade my legs for gills and flippers if someone could do it for me. Swimming and null gravity movements are very similar. I never quit swimming and one day, we were having a discussion about how man would have been different if we'd had fins instead of legs. The discussion lead to this." Blair finished his story as he reached up and wrapped a hand around a pipe. He shifted his leg and pulled Jim tight against him. "Does this make you uncomfortable?" 

Jim shook his head. He tried to grin and didn't quite make it. "Guess I'm used to being in control." 

"I don't doubt it." Blair dropped his leg and Jim drifted out of his embrace and toward the floor, until he stopped his motion with a hand. Blair grinned at the ease with which the Ranger controlled his movements. "Want to be part of our study? Your long term life in null gravity has got to show some changes in your brain pattern." 

Jim shook his head, frowning. "Last thing I want is to have some scientist poking around in my brain patterns." Another hand movement pushed Jim the rest of the way to the floor and his feet clicked on the metal. Blair followed, his eyes distressed at the frown that now marred Jim's brow. 

"Jim, I was just teasing." He reached out and took a muscular arm. "I don't know you well enough to tease you, do I?" He turned the Ranger so he could meet the light blue eyes. "I'm sorry. Am I forgiven?" 

Jim sighed, then nodded. "Guess I'm a little sensitive on the subject. Every time we go dirt-side, we're poked and prodded for a week. It gets old real quick." 

Blair leaned into the fatigue covered chest and smiled at the man looking down at him. "I can understand that." He kissed Jim lightly. "My students will be back in thirty minutes or so. You want to grab a bite to eat, or do something more vigorous?" Blair wiggled his eyebrows and leered. 

Jim chuckled at the expressive face. "Chief, I really don't want a five minute fuck with you." He stroked through the curls, twirling a finger in a strand. 

"Good. I'm starved. Let's get a bite and you can tell me all about how you got to be a Space Ranger." Sandburg left Jim's side and turned off equipment. 

"I can't believe you just called me a Space Ranger." Jim was smiling. 

"You just called me 'Chief'. One nickname deserves another." Sandburg closed a laptop and looked at the man smiling at him. "Why 'Chief?" 

"Isn't that what you are? A Chief to all your Indians? Leading them on a great experiment in the sky?" 

Sandburg groaned. "Man, you have no idea." He kicked against the floor and did a slow somersault toward the door. "Come on. I can see this is going to be an in-depth discussion." Blair landed lightly at the portal and waited for Ellison. 

Jim kicked loose from the floor and made a grand show of doing the backstroke as he floated through the portal past Sandburg. "What's keeping you?" 

^^^^^^^^^^ 

Jim pushed a huge box toward Brown and watched as it sailed across the cargo bay. Brown intercepted it and guided it into the stack of other crates. Jim looked around at the neat cargo bay, then at his sweat stained tee shirt. He needed a shower before he met Sandburg at 1800 hours. 

"Captain, I heard you and the little scientist had an interesting lunch." Brown anchored the stack of supplies with a cargo net. Then he hung upside down with the toes of one boot wedged under a pipe. The lieutenant grinned at the captain looking up at him. "His students are quite the group. They think that this trip will be the beginning of wonderful things. One is going to be a professional dancer and another one wants to teach. A couple of them think that this study will lead to a medical career." 

Jim shrugged. He motioned for his lieutenant to come down. "He's quite the professor. His mind moves so fast that it's hard to keep up with him when he gets rolling. He must be incredible in a classroom." 

Brown dropped lightly to his feet. "Have you seen them dance yet?" 

"I didn't realize they were into dancing. What I saw was more like aerial gymnastics." Jim waited until Brown floated through the door and then followed him. He dogged the hatch. "They finally turned the music down to something that doesn't vibrate the walls." 

Brown looked at Ellison. "Really. I hadn't noticed. I kinda liked their choice of music. Wasn't that classic drippy stuff or that loud metal head-banger stuff." 

The two men shuffled down the corridor toward the control room. They ducked into the communications room and looked at Banks who was talking on a video communications connection. The large screen in the wall showed the control room in Houston. A voice was droning on about schedules and budgets. Banks was shaking his head. 

"The station is on schedule, and on budget. I don't know why you're telling me this." Banks growled at the uniform on the other end. 

"I'm telling you this because the United Nations want to send up a bunch of diplomats and PR people in the shuttle run next month so you can show everybody how you're on schedule and on budget." 

"And I'm telling you, General. The station can handle scientists and repair crews. It can handle shuttle crews and refitting operations. But it's still a bunch of tin cans strung together with metal tubing and solar panels. It's not a luxury hotel or even a decent log cabin. You bring in a bunch of high rolling political types and they will want room service and catered foods. I don't want them here." 

"So what do I tell these people that control your purse strings?" The General sat down in his leather chair and leaned back. His bald head caught the light for a moment. 

"Tell them that it's still a long way from a hotel. Tell them that it's doing its job by providing the world with power. That's what's important. If they come up here, they will be on their own because I don't have anybody to babysit them." 

Banks flicked off the switch and broke the connection. He turned to the Rangers and growled at them because they were there. "It's a good thing we're up here and he's down there. I hate a general who plays kiss ass with the politicians." He looked at his men. "Is there something you need? Something you want to talk to me about?" 

Both men shook their heads. Ellison spoke up. "Just checking in before calling it a night." 

Banks shook his head. "I hear that our prize winning group are making themselves at home and doing wonderful things for the morale of people up here." 

Brown nodded. "They are really great kids. They've turned a lab into a dance studio and are pulling a bunch of us into their routines. They got Rafe out there yesterday and spun him until he was sick. Ain't ever seen him dizzy enough to be sick." 

Banks nodded with a smile. "I heard from one of the construction crews that they were trying to rig a trapeze so they could launch themselves with big rubber bands or bungee cords. I don't know why, but the construction guys were impressed with the mechanics of it." 

Ellison shook his head at the description of Sandburg's group. Earlier at lunch, Sandburg had described the group as a bunch of egos looking for a place to make a name for themselves. The teacher had said it with a smile, but the captain had read some real disgust behind the tone. 

"Commander, if you don't need me anymore tonight, I'm going off duty." Ellison said his good nights with a smile and slipped away, leaving Banks and Brown discussing how to persuade the politicians to stay away from the station. 

The ranger wanted a shower, even if it was restricted to just a few minutes because of the limited water supply, before meeting the young man who fascinated him. He hurried to the small community bathroom the military men shared and stripped. He washed quickly, his mind already turned toward the rest of the evening. The young doctor wanted him to come back to the lab where his group worked. Besides himself, he had promised to bring food and drink. Jim remembered the whispered promise of a locked door, soft lights and incredible sex, with a large smile. He scurried to his tiny cubicle and pulled on soft, dark sweatpants, a sleeveless tank top and light slippers modified for the light gravity. 

He rummaged through a drawer and came out with a small bar of expensive dark chocolate he'd been hoarding as a treat on the day he left the station, and a small bottle of very expensive red wine, also hoarded for his final day on the station. The booze was against the rules, but at this moment, he wasn't worrying about them. He just hoped the man he was about to join would like one or both of his contributions to the evening. 

^^^^^^^^^ 

Jim entered the lab slowly, not sure what he would find. The lights were dimmed and the floor, which had been cleared for the group's use, contained a blanket and several small pillows, spread near the center. Music played from the speakers secured to the walls. The selection was soft and full of pianos and bird songs. Ellison dogged the hatch and threw the interior latch. 

"You're a few minutes early." Sandburg's voice came from overhead and Ellison looked up to see the doctor perched upside down on a series of interlocking bars. 

"Anxious." Ellison placed his food offerings on a console and kicked off from the floor and floated up until he was beside the young man, one upright, the other not. "Why are you up here?" 

"Trying out something." Sandburg leaned over and kissed Ellison from his upside down stance. "How hungry are you? For food and anything else?" 

Jim caught the slender hands in his. "Starving. But food can wait. Why?" 

Sandburg swung one leg down, which forced him upright. The teacher had changed into something dark brown, gold and black, but the garment was hidden under a cape of some type. He offered his hand and pulled Jim up next to him on the bar he was sitting on. 

"I want you to sit here for a moment and watch this." Blair let go of the bar and with a fluid movement drifted to the floor. "I know you know what we're trying to prove with this study. It's about learning how we would have been different if gravity hadn't forced us to think about things like leverage and strength." Blair explained as he shuffled toward a computer console. "But if we had been different, what would we have done with the differences?" 

Jim called from his perch. "You lost me, Chief. Remember, I'm just a soldier." 

"Oh, you're more than that, Jim. I've watched you move through null gravity. You are as comfortable in this environment as I am. I bet you sleep without being tethered to your bunk, don't you? Probably just a blanket across you to keep out a draft." Blair moved out into the center of the cleared floor. 

"If you had a chance, would you return here? Work here full-time?" Jim called from his perch. "You seem to fit very well." 

"Depends on the incentive. By myself, no thanks." Sandburg huddled down on the floor and removed the cape, leaving him looking like a small pile of brown, black and gold fabric. Faint music started, then the volume began to rise. The music was violins and flutes, backed by a small drum. 

Jim listened and watched, his eyes riveted to the man on the floor below him. As the music built and more horns and drums were added, Jim was reminded of a sunrise he'd seen over the Grand Canyon once. The body on the floor moved, an arm sweeping out as if stretching, followed by the other one. 

The head uncurled from the chest it had been buried against and lifted slightly. The arms moved, high overhead and down to the floor in stretching motions. Jim didn't see two arms, he saw two wings, greeting the morning sun. The sleeves of the shirt Sandburg wore were cut and sewn to look like the long feathers of wings and the movements of his arms fit the feathers exactly. Sandburg's head came up and his back straightened until his body looked like it was ready to spring. 

The music continued to build and change, each flute note rising higher as if the sun was climbing over the rim of the world. There was a moment when a violin sprung into the flute, followed by a drum with a heartbeat. At that second, Sandburg leaped into the air, arms spread, like a hawk or eagle, launching from a perch. The arms beat downward strongly and the body surged upwards. The wings beat backwards for a second and the ascent slowed. 

Jim's breath caught as he realized the rest of the clothing Sandburg wore also represented a large bird of prey, the body painted in browns and gold, with a light underbelly. There was even a tail, its feathers spread as if for balance on shifting winds. The teacher slowly stroked the air in time with the music. The ranger watched as the man danced across the open space, a hawk greeting the sun as it rode the thermals. It slid and slipped across the sky, each wing beat in perfect beat with the drum beating like a heart. The music exploded once more and Blair folded his wings and dove toward the perch where Ellison waited. As the last note dropped, Sandburg's strong arms swept back and his feet touched down on the bar, as neatly as any bird landing on a limb. He folded his arms (wings) and balanced on the bar, his eyes wide and excited, his mouth opened and smiling as he panted for breath. 

"This is what you can't do in a pool. You can't fly in a pool, no matter how hard you work. I've practiced this a thousand times in my head, bits and pieces of it in a pool, working on how to move. But you're the first person to see it all the way through." 

Jim shook his head. "That was amazing. The music, your movements, everything. The visualization I got was of a sunrise and a hawk rising with it. Are you going to perform it with the rest of your group before you go back to Earth?" 

Sandburg shrugged. Then he smiled and reached for Ellison's hand. "Come fly with me." He took a tiny remote control out of a pocket and aimed it toward a computer console and started the music again. Then he pulled Jim from the perch and out into the open air. They floated as another piece started, this one all drums and piano, with the occasional flute. The gravity caused by the station's spin was so slight, it would take minutes for them to fall to the floor, longer if they worked at staying in the air. 

"Blair, I'm not a dancer, or a swimmer. I'm not graceful like you." Ellison protested, not entirely comfortable with being so vulnerable in the air. 

Sandburg kissed the ranger. "Don't want you graceful. Want you primal and savage, like those drums." Sandburg pulled the tank top off and ran his hands over the well-developed chest. "Fly with me, Space Ranger. Take me to the stars." He settled his lips over Jim's again. Around them, deep resounding drums vibrated their bones. The drums called the hunters to hunt and warriors to do battle. They set a pace for marching or pounding across a desert on horseback, a thousand voices raised in battle cries. 

Jim responded to the lips over his and he relaxed into the embrace, wrapping one hand into the long hair. Nimble fingers found the zipper that closed the costume and he pulled it down, freeing Sandburg's chest and arms. 

Jim pulled back when he felt the thick hair on Sandburg's chest and looked down. He smiled at the teacher, then ran his fingers through the wiry hair."Nice." He found a hard nipple and flicked a fingernail over the sensitive flesh. "Didn't have any idea you'd be furry." 

A fierce smile covered Sandburg's face. His fingers gripped the waistband of the sweatpants on Ellison's hips and with a deft flick of his wrist, Ellison was spinning and the pants were gone. The fleece garment floated away, leaving the man nude and tumbling slowly, head over heels. 

Jim stopped his motion with a quick hand swipe, then looked down at himself and his state of undress. He looked at the man in front of him who was softly laughing. 

"Two can play this game, Chief." He caught Sandburg to him, kissed him soundly, then flipped him backwards, peeling the jumpsuit the rest of the way off the limber body. 

Blair laughed delightedly. He finished the back flip and came back into Jim's arms. "Fly with me," he whispered, then wrapped his legs around Jim's waist. Their next kiss consumed them and Jim locked one arm around his lover's back. They floated in air, each motion of an arm or leg turning them together. The music changed to surf pounding on rocks and a thunderstorm, mixed with a soft guitar. 

Jim came up for air from their kiss and reached between their bodies, finding the teacher's erection straining to be touched. When he stroked it with one finger, Blair arched away, body horizontal in the air, his ankles crossed behind Ellison's back. Jim shifted within the circle of Blair's legs and lifted the hips higher to where he could take the long column of flesh into his mouth and taste Sandburg. 

Blair yelled, and sat up, reaching for Jim's head. The motion sent them both tumbling out of control. The teacher grabbed for a pipe and with a shove sent them to the floor and the blanket and pillows. 

Jim ignored their movements as he concentrated on pleasuring the younger man. Blair was surging into his mouth, alternately begging for more and pleading for him to slow down. The ranger felt the floor as they touched down and, with one hand, he grabbed a pillow and had it under Blair's body before it touched the blanket. His other hand was squeezing Sandburg's balls, rolling them in his hands, feeling them tighten against the teacher's body. 

"Jim, Jim, Jim!" Sandburg chanted. His hands locked onto Jim's head and he pushed himself deeper into Ellison's willing mouth. "Oh, God! JIM!" His hips surged upward as he climaxed and his voice drowned the music completely. 

Jim held the cock deep in his throat, taking the offering of the teacher's life essence and savoring the pulsing organ. He heard Blair's whispers of satisfaction as the young man came down from the orgasm. Jim lifted himself off his new lover and floated over him. Blair's eyes were closed and his face was filled with a smile. The smoky eyes opened and smiled at the man hovering above him. 

"That was incredible. I think I exploded." 

Jim nodded. "You did." He grinned. "So did I fly you okay?" 

Blair grinned. "Oh yeah." He reached up and slid his hand down the muscular chest to the narrow waist. "Come here." 

Ellison let himself be turned and moved until he was on his side and Blair was nestled between his legs. The teacher kissed and stroked the long muscles in Jim's thighs, running his fingers over the ridged abs and licking the crease between his leg and groin until Jim was squirming in anticipation. When Sandburg finally took the firm cock into his mouth and swirled his tongue over the dripping head, Jim sighed in relief. 

Their movements had pushed them away from the floor and they floated just above the blanket and pillows. Jim noticed their location in relationship to the consoles nearby, then relaxed and gave himself up to the pleasure his lover was pulling out of him. He buried one hand into Blair's locks and tried not to choke the man who was tormenting him. 

"Chief." Ellison groaned. "Oh, that's good. Yeah, just like that. Oh, feels good." His comments died away as his hips started bucking. "Can't take much more of this," he whispered in warning. 

A warm hand encircled his hips and one long finger slipped down the crack of his ass and pressed against the sensitive skin there. Jim shouted and came, pushing against the man holding his hips as he emptied himself into the warm sucking mouth. 

The next time Ellison was aware of himself, he was lying on the blanket, a pillow under his head and his clothes draped across his legs for warmth. Sandburg was sitting next to him, cross legged. The teacher was grinning smugly. Ellison blinked at the grinning figure. 

"Welcome back." Blair whispered, then offered him a bottle of water. "That was quite a complement. I don't think I've ever made love to someone until they fainted." 

Ellison sat up and took a drink. "Sorry. I don't normally faint on my lovers." 

"I'll just chalk it up to my fantastic technique." The smug grin was definitely back. 

Ellison looked at Sandburg. Then he pulled the teacher into his arms and kissed him soundly. "Next time, I'll show you technique," he whispered into a curl covered ear. 

"Promises, promises." Sandburg whispered back, still grinning wildly. 

"Would you like some dinner now, or do you want to wait for breakfast?" Blair settled back into his cross-legged position and pulled his discarded cape around his shoulders. 

Ellison looked around for a clock and didn't see one. "What time is it?" 

Blair shook his head. "Don't know exactly. Sometime after midnight." He got to his feet and went behind the computer desks and came back with a box. He placed it carefully on the floor, making sure it was staying there before going back to the desk and returning with clothes for himself. He pulled a green jumpsuit on, then slid his feet into slippers anchored to the floor. 

Jim looked at Sandburg as he dressed, not able to pull his eyes away from the lean, well-toned body until it was completely covered. Then he struggled into his own clothes. Dressed, they dug into the box of food and shared sandwiches, dried fruit slices, some beef jerky and squeeze bottles of juice. Ellison retrieved the bar of chocolate and the small bottle of wine and they finished off their meal, feeling decadent and satisfied at sharing the hoarded goodies. Ellison looked around the room after their meal, scanning the area for signs of their activities. Satisfied that nobody would ever know about what they had done, he turned to the teacher who was shutting down the sound system. 

"Come back to my quarters with me for the rest of the night?" Ellison pulled Blair into his arms and nibbled on the long neck. 

"Aren't you worried what the others will think?" Blair looked into the pale blue eyes, seeing no fear there. 

"The station is asleep. My men are asleep. Stay with me. Tomorrow will come too soon and I don't want to leave you yet." 

Jim silenced the next thought with a kiss that left Sandburg breathless. He pulled away and stroked the beard-shadowed cheek. "If you stay with me, we can fly some more." Jim grinned. 

Sandburg wrapped his arms around the ranger's neck. "Now who in their right mind would turn down an offer like that?" He kissed Jim gently. "I'll fly with you anywhere, anytime, Space Ranger." 

Jim nodded. "Good." Together they packed up their supplies, unlocked the hatch and headed for Jim's tiny cabin. Once there, Jim closed the door firmly and threw the privacy latch. He turned to see Blair staring at him and the tiny hook. 

"It's a signal more than anything. In an emergency, someone would just throw it open. But if someone just tried to open it, the hook would resist and whoever was on the other side would know I wanted some privacy." 

Blair nodded and looked around the metal box that the ranger called his temporary home. "Not much is it? When you think of all the dollars this station is costing." 

Jim pulled Sandburg into his arms. "This wasn't built with human comfort in mind. That's a long way off." He kissed the teacher. "Your group will have the reputation of being the first 'school' group to be here." Jim started slowly pulling the zipper down Blair's chest. "Of course, the first group of politicians who show up will screw up everything." 

Sandburg chuckled deep in his throat. "Tell me how you really feel, Jim." 

"Nah, I'd rather undress you and have my wicked way with you again." The zipper was all the way down and Jim nibbled on the long neck and swiped his tongue down the center of the exposed chest. He sucked on one hardened nipple, then continued his expiration of the man's body. While his tongue licked, his hands were pulling the jumpsuit off of Blair's arms and pushing it down the muscular hips. 

They fell silent as the rest of their clothes were tugged from warm skin and they tumbled into the narrow bunk, arms and legs wrapped around each other. 

Jim's fingers were working on finding Blair's weak spots, while Sandburg latched onto Ellison's neck and fed on the soft skin. 

Body rocked against body. Hands, lips and tongues worked to pleasure one another. Moans filled the air as the men reached the plateau of their lovemaking. Their movements caused them to drift off the bunk and they ended up halfway across the small cabin. Jim opened his eyes when his head brushed against the light fixture and he looked around himself. Blair was wrapped around him, face buried in Jim's armpit. They were slowly settling toward the floor. 

"Chief." Jim whispered. He freed one arm and pushed them back toward the bunk. 

"Hey, want to get cleaned up and get some sleep?" 

Blair shook his head. "I'm comfortable, man. A little cold maybe." He didn't change position. 

"Okay." The ranger reached for the folded blanket under the bunk and awkwardly draped it over them. He wrapped his arms over the cover, tucking it around the almost sleeping man. Then he kissed the top of Blair's head. "Night, lover." 

The whisper got a grunt in response. 

^^^^^^^^^^ 

Captain James Ellison stared at the video screen containing the image of his father. The elder Ellison was glaring from behind his executive size desk, while the pen in his hand tapped the desk calendar. 

"Son, I don't see what the big deal is. The group wanting to visit the station are some of your biggest supporters. Why is it so difficult for your Commander Banks to accede to their requests?" 

"Dad, this is not a hotel, convention center, or a political junket for good press. To the normal human being, this station is a dangerous place, with a lot of hardships thrown in on top of it. I will not use my influence with the Commander to support your political ambitions. Maybe in a year, we can have guests. Maybe in a year we can have an area that would be safe for people with no reason to be here, to use. They can look out at the view and write great speeches on how important the station is to the planet. But not now." 

"Jimmy, you'll be home in 3 days. Think of the influence you will have with the powers controlling the space station. If you were to do your old man this one favor, you'd make some great contacts who would owe you for a long time." 

Jim felt his jaw tighten and his teeth click. "Dad, I do not support you in trying to bring guests to the station. I don't want them here. Commander Banks doesn't want them here. The security risk is too high. We've almost lost the station once, I won't risk it again." 

The man on the other side of the screen changed tactics. "What about that group from the University? The ones who went up almost two weeks ago and are coming back when you come back? You can't tell me that their being there is something the military approves." 

Jim could feel his temper slipping away. "That group came up as a reward for a proposed project. The military had no control, or say. They just showed up. Since their arrival, they have pitched in, helped out, done their work and been a great morale boost. Commander Banks has a choice here, on allowing a bunch of gawkers and second guessers on board. I support his choice to say no." 

"Jimmy, this won't help me any, if you oppose this idea. How will it look if the son of William Ellison publicly says keeping certain people off the station is a good idea? I'm trying to build you a future here." 

"Dad, if you think you're doing this for me, don't. I don't plan to go into politics, business with you, or kissing ass in Washington, when I leave the service. I'll make my own plans and my own future. Right now, I'd rather drive a truck or dig ditches then work with you." Jim reached for the screen to disconnect the communication. 

"Jimmy, wait!" The elder Ellison sighed. "All right, I was out of line to ask you to step in. But don't throw away a possible future because you don't agree with me. Think about it." 

"I did, Dad. The answer is no." Jim's fingers flicked the switch and the screen went blank. Jim turned toward the door and found Sandburg perched in the threshold. 

"That didn't sound like a good conversation." The professor floated into the room and kissed Jim soundly. "Your father sounds like a man that's used to getting his way." 

"He is." Jim sighed, then pulled Sandburg into a hug. "There's a group of Congressmen who have approached Dad about visiting. They asked the General. The General asked Banks. Banks said no. So they asked Dad to use his son to get to the commander. Dad has his sights set on the Washington state governor's seat. This would be a real feather in his hat. So Dad asked me. You heard the rest." 

"So, what are you going to do about it?" Blair wiggled his fingers under Jim's tee shirt and stroked a rib. 

Jim caught the tickling fingers. "Tell Commander Banks to expect more flak from Washington. Pack my bags. Pack your gear. Get on the shuttle, go home." 

"Have you decided on what you plan to do when you get dirt-side?" Blair pulled Jim into a tight embrace and licked an earlobe. 

Jim pointed at the bag full of job offers. "I'll go through these when I get back." Ellison tightened his grip around the strong back while his ear was being tortured. 

"We haven't talked about the future. I'll be heading back to Rainier with this group of students. I've got enough data to keep me busy for the next couple of years. Between teaching, writing and analyzing, I'm going to be really busy." 

Blair pulled away and looked at the Ranger's bright eyes. "Why don't you take some time and stay in Cascade for awhile? Rent an apartment and unwind. Read those job offers and really think about it." He hesitated. "Or you can move in with me, if you think you can handle me around full time. I'm not a neat freak like you and I keep strange hours. But I'm a good cook and, I've been told, really great in bed." 

Jim grinned, even as his ears heated up. "You asking me to live with you?" He watched a blush spread over Sandburg's face. 

"I think so, Jim. I mean, I know it's sudden, and everything. But I really like you, like being with you." Sandburg's words started tumbling over themselves. "I don't have a big place, but it's comfortable. It's close to the U, but there are parks around and the people are nice." 

Jim put his hand over Blair's mouth. "I know about Cascade, Chief. I was born there." He pulled his hand away so he could kiss the open mouth. "Yes, I'll move in with you." Jim whispered into Blair's ear. "Just remember, it may be temporary. I'm still on active duty, and will be for several more months." 

Sandburg leaped into Jim's arms and wrapped his legs around the narrow waist. He kissed the ranger, almost suffocating Jim in his passion. "You just made me very happy." 

Jim relaxed into the kiss, both of his hands wrapped in the dark curls. He finally came up for air and chuckled at his companion's expression. "Come on, we have lots to do. Your students still plan to show off that routine you've been working on, right? And we have to tell the Commander about my father's sneakiness." 

The two men floated from the room, hand-fasted. Blair's voice echoed down the hallway. "What are you going to tell your father when I show up with you at the party he's throwing for your homecoming?" 

"Dad, meet Dr. Sandburg, the smartest man I know and my new landlord." Jim's voice was very confident as they rounded a corner. 

^^^^^^^^^^ 

6 months later 

Jim slammed the door to the apartment he shared with his lover. "Blair! Where are you hiding?" 

Blair strolled out of his office, notebook in hand, pencil in his teeth. He looked up at the larger man, his eyebrows on the rise with an unspoken question. 

Jim held up a stack of papers. "How did you get this approved so quickly? "I figured it would take a year." 

Sandburg shrugged and pulled the pencil out of his mouth. "You thought it was a good idea. I thought it was a good idea. It just needed to be presented in the right light. You know me and words..." Blair put his notebook and pencil down. "The station needs the right public relations spin now that it's showing how valuable science projects can be. The government is the last thing you want in charge to market the station's possibilities." 

Jim pulled Blair into his arms. "I don't believe you sold the idea of the University handling the public relations for the station." 

"Hey, the U made a lot off of my project up there. The fallout alone raised the U to a high priority college. We're in demand because of our forward looking curriculum. The least they could do was listen to me." 

Jim nibbled on the long neck. "How did you sell me as being the project manager?" 

Blair dropped his head back and let the warm lips bathe the thin skin on the pulse in his neck. "Told them that you'd been there all the way through the rebuilding of the station; that you were trained on all components of its functioning. You came from a business background with a military career on top of it. Plus I mentioned that Commander Banks would support the university if you were put in charge." 

Jim pulled back from the neck he was marking. "I know that tone. You're not telling me everything." He started on an ear with his teeth while his hands unfastened the blue checked shirt. 

Blair took a deep breath and caught Jim's hands before they peeled the shirt off of him. "And your father recommended you for the job." 

Jim pulled away from his lover so fast, Blair stumbled. The light blue eyes flashed. "My father? What has my father got to do with this?" 

Blair grabbed Jim's arms before the ranger could turn away. "The university recognized your last name as the name of a very generous patron. They called your father. When they asked him about your willingness to accept the position, he talked their ears off about your accomplishments." 

Jim glared at his lover. "I didn't need my father's help to get a job," he growled. 

"No, you didn't. But consider this a nice gesture on his part. He wants to be a part of your life, even if disagrees with how you're living it." 

"Chief, now he'll expect something in return." Jim growled, trying to get his partner to understand his point of view. 

"Jim, that will be your decision, if or when he asks." Blair took the stack of papers from Ellison's hands and shook it at the larger man. "This contract will let you protect the station. Which is what you have done all along. You will control who uses the station when, who visits, and what they bring on board. You can pick your own security people, write your own security requirements, the works." 

Jim took the papers and tossed them on the coffee table. He pulled the teacher into his arms. "So, does this mean we need to think about relocating to the space station and asking for family quarters?" The blue shirt was finally disposed of and the long sleeve tee shirt under it was in serious jeopardy. 

Blair started to walk backwards toward their bedroom, dragging Jim willingly along. "I think we can justify having two homes." He pushed open the bedroom door with his butt. "Just think, living together on the station half the year when the weather is bad in Cascade. Living down here during the summer months." 

The back of his knees hit the bed and he pivoted swiftly, causing Jim to fall on the bed and he landed on top the ranger. 

Blair sprawled over his lover. "We'll need to figure out how to get this king size bed on the shuttle without raising too many eyebrows." Sandburg kissed the ranger's nose and started working on getting Jim undressed. 

Jim laughed. "I figured we'd put up a king size hammock." 

Blair kissed his lover. The professor bit one ear, then licked down Jim's neck. A button gave way and Blair changed his target to a nipple. He flicked his tongue over it, then looked up at Jim's flushed face. "Fly with me to the stars, Space Ranger." 

End Space Ranger by Toshua:


End file.
